Memorial Services Set for Country Singer and TV Star Molly Bee

Friends and family will hold a memorial service Monday (Feb. 16) for country singer and television personality Molly Bee who died Saturday (Feb. 7) in Oceanside, Calif., at the age of 69. The service will take place at El Camino Memorial Chapel in Encinitas, Calif. Born Mollie Beachboard in Oklahoma City, she became a singing TV star by the time she was 11 via Cliffie Stone’s seminal Hometown Jubilee series in Los Angeles. While still in her early teens, she established herself on the national TV scene, first as a cast member of The Pinky Lee Show, a children’s program, and then as a regular on The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. She also received attention with her 1952 recording of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” She charted only two singles on the Billboard country chart — “She Kept on Talkin’” and “Right or Left at Oak Street” — both during the mid-’70s.